Page 10 of Stay Here Forever

White-hot rage settled over Audrey as she thought about her brother. She needed to confront him, immediately. But it seemed her body was only beginning to process the shock of the last minutes, and suddenly she was freezing, trembling so hard it was difficult to move. Another roll of thunder sounded, and the sky lit up, the bolt visible as the storm moved closer.

“We need to go, Audrey. I’m taking you home.” She didn’t shy away from Luke this time as he wrapped a firm arm around her shoulders, providing both warmth and support to her weakened frame. Slowly, he led them out of the park, leaving Rufus and Mrs. Archer beneath the willow from which they had yet to emerge.

Fifteen minutes later, Audrey had lost feeling in her fingers and felt numb all over—even her thoughts were sluggish. Luke helped her ascend the stairs as Hopkins, their very concerned-looking butler, threw open the door to let them inside the warm townhome.

“Miss Jacobs, you are soaked to the bone! Greta, we need hot water for two baths, quickly!”

Hopkins helped strip the sodden pelisse off her arms as Luke held her steady. “We can have a bath set up for you in the guest chambers, Mr. . . .”

“Kent!” Felix emerged from his study and appeared at the top of the stairs. “Is that you? Good god, man, you’re soaked. Yes, let Hopkins take care of you. I can lend you some clothes.”

It was not lost on Audrey that her brother showed no concern for her currently half drowned state. However, Greta swiftly returned from the kitchen to help her up the stairs. Hopkins gave a bow and parting acknowledgment to Luke before trotting off with their outer clothes to be dried and brushed.

Audrey slowly made her way up the stairs with Greta’s support as feeling started to return, but she paused at the landing beside her brother.

“Felix, we need to have words. As soon as I’ve warmed and can find dry clothes, you had better be waiting for me in the library.” He paled under her icy delivery and direct, unwavering glare. She wanted to have it out with him immediately, but it could wait until she had sunk her body into a tub of warm water.

Anything to feel again.

CHAPTER 7

“What was that all about?” Felix asked, watching Audrey’s back as she retreated up the stairs for her bath.

“We ran into Rufus and his lovely wife while in the park,” Luke answered as Felix whipped his head toward him.

“Fuck,” he muttered. “She’s going to kill me.”

“If she doesn’t, I will.” Luke was seething. He’d always known his friend lacked conviction and would take the easy way out of any situation, but this was beyond reprehensible.

“Steady on, Kent. And just what were you doing out with Audrey anyway? You return to the country and gallivant about with my sister but pay your old friend no mind?”

The sound of a throat being cleared shifted both men’s attention to Hopkins. “If you would, Mr. Kent, a bath has been set up for you. I’ll have Thomas fetch some dry clothing. If you’d please follow me, it’s just this way.” The butler gestured up the stairs and waited for Luke to precede him.

He paused next to Felix, echoing Audrey’s moves. “Don’t think we’re done with this conversation. I’ll be back down to support Audrey and hear what you have to say for yourself.” Felix’s face turned red, but he made no protest as Luke walked away.

A few minutes later, finally stripped of his drenched, clammy clothing, Luke sank into the hot water with a sigh. Closing his eyes, he rested his head on the rim of the tub and let out a groan. What an unmitigated mess. How had Luke spent his youthful years being friends with men who were such complete pricks? It was incomprehensible that they would treat Audrey in such a manner, with no regard for her feelings.

He had no real idea of what had transpired over the past ten years, but from the little Audrey shared and what Stephen had implied, he assumed that everyone, including Audrey herself, had believed she and Rufus to be betrothed. Sometime on his grand tour, however, Rufus had committed himself to a wife who was decidedly not Audrey. Yet it was now painfully apparent that Audrey hadn’t known of the marriage.

She was furious with him, believing he’d hid the information from her. But how could he have known that everyone was keeping her in the dark? She’d never volunteered information about their relationship, and Luke didn’t want to pry, so Rufus was not discussed between them. She’d mentioned him in passing a few times, always flinching and changing the subject, which he assumed was from the pain of losing him to another. But as a diplomat, he should have known better than to presume any knowledge which had not been explicitly shared.

Scrubbing his hands over his face and reveling in the feeling that was returning to his extremities, Luke had to laugh at the day’s trajectory simply to avoid crying. One moment he was about to kiss the woman who’d stayed with him all this time—over continents, violent conflicts, and even a marriage—the next he was in exile.

She had been a vision of loveliness in the moments before their lips almost touched. Cheeks pink from the cold wind, eyes sparkling in merriment and desire, a lock of her beautiful hair tumbling across her shoulder as it fell from her pins when wrestling with her bonnet. She was the most beautiful creature.

Though most likely unwise, grief for Inez still present and Audrey ostensibly processing her loss, he’d still planned to kiss her in that moment, as the past fortnight together had been the most enjoyable weeks he’d experienced in a long time. Between losing Inez and the horrors he had witnessed over the years, especially at Waterloo just months ago, he’d been a walking husk, feeling only half of the man he used to be. But being with Audrey, experiencing every second of joy with her, restored him. He reveled in watching her come to life, rediscovering her joy in intellectual pursuits and engaging with all London provided. Her revival spurred his own, and as the days marched forward, he was helpless to resist her pull, ready to give in to the attraction that was growing between them.

Luke laughed aloud realizing the irony that Rufus was once again hampering his pursuit. Enough, Luke couldn’t stew in this tub all day when important matters needed to be sorted. Rising from the bath, he quickly toweled off and dressed before descending the stairs to the library.

Felix snorted as Luke walked through the door. “You look ridiculous. Those trousers are inches too short for you.”

“Yes, well, they are your clothes. I think they will manage for the time being, as mine have absorbed half the precipitation in all of England.” He paced in front of the fire, too agitated to sit and wait for Audrey.

“And what exactly were you doing out with my sister?” Felix raised a brow from his seat beside the hearth. If one didn’t know better, he might come across as a concerned brother. But Luke did know better.

“You don’t need to answer that, Luke,” Audrey said as she marched through the door. “My brother has lost the privilege of knowing any of my personal business.” She glowered at Felix, her anger unrelenting in the half hour that had passed.

Felix sat up at her pronouncement and tried a different tactic. “What are you wearing? It’s hardly proper when we have a guest.” Audrey was wrapped in a warm dressing gown, damp hair brushed and managed into a braid trailing down her back. Though she was buttoned and covered from head to toe, not an inch of skin showing outside her face and hands, Luke still found her the most alluring sight. There was something so intimate about seeing her as she would only be at home with family or a husband. He couldn’t keep back his smile.